Moneo writes: The role of the optometrist

I was taught that the role of an optometrist was, primarily, to detect and correct defects of sight. It is also probably what most of the general public think we do most of the time. Of course we all know that over the years we have developed our role in the detection of both eye and general body illnesses and diseases and there are an increasing number of optometrists who are now able to treat or monitor these conditions on an everyday basis.

However, there are still a great number who believe that our primary role is to correct defects of sight. I am not going to disagree with those people, but our role is much larger. With the population living longer, our role must change at a very fundamental level.